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A ROYAL Navy officer has been presented with an MBE for the role he played in HMS Daring’s first global deployment.

Lieutenant Commander Shatadeep ‘Tush’ Chatterjee, from Portsmouth, was the marine engineering officer on board the destroyer for the nine-month deployment that saw Daring circle the globe and help in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

I was absolutely astounded to receive this honour for a job I enjoy doing and appreciate the collective recognition for Daring’s sailors and engineers who kept the ship going through challenging times for nine months.

Shatadeep ‘Tush’ Chatterjee

For his role in this busy deployment Tush was made an MBE, which he collected at a ceremony in Windsor Castle.

On receiving the MBE, the 39-year-old said: ‘I was absolutely astounded to receive this honour for a job I enjoy doing and appreciate the collective recognition for Daring’s sailors and engineers who kept the ship going through challenging times for nine months.

‘This is what the Royal Navy is good at and it must be celebrated while acknowledging the sacrifices that people made.’

Lt Cdr Chatterjee joined the navy in 2000 after studying mechanical engineering at Aberdeen University.

He added: ‘In all my time in the Royal Navy I have not had a deployment quite like Daring’s.

‘Not only did we show off our ship but we also got to take part in missile defence trials in the Pacific and featured heavily in the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Review.

‘But more importantly, it was also an opportunity for us to get involved in disaster relief operations in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan struck the islands.’